LIPW EVENT: Dr. Hossein Mousavian

Dr. Hossein Mousavian, Research Scholar at Woodrow Wilson School of Public Affairs, will speak on the topic, “The Shared Interests of the US and the Islamic Republic of Iran”. He will be introduced by a Specialist on Iran, Ed Martin.

A native of Iran, Dr. Mousavian spent more than two decades working on Iranian foreign affairs, and has, since 2009, been a visiting research scholar at Princeton University’s Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs. His experience and expertise will demonstrate how important it is for the United States to rethink its policy in the Persian Gulf and Middle East. Iran’s major foreign policy concern is preserving its own identity as the Islamic Republic. Guaranteeing ontological security and sustaining Iran’s identity need to be priorities for the United States, and the U.S. will be far better served in its efforts to do so not by championing a regime change, but rather by focusing on common goals shared by both nations. Together, Iran and the U.S. can create policies to facilitate both countries’ security objectives, and by cooperating in this manner, the U.S. will save so much in terms of blood, budget, credibility, and influence. A focus on similarities between the Unites States and Iran can serve as a foreign policy model for the whole Middle East, demonstrating the effectiveness of two nations striving to cooperate with each other in order to create a more stable, secure, and economically prosperous region. In turn, such an approach will also ensure that the interests of other international players such as Russia, China, and the European Union are taken into account, facilitating peace efforts around the globe. (Written by Emily Birch, LIPW Program Committee)

From 1980-1990, Dr. Mousavian was Editor-in-Chief of the daily newspaper Tehran Times, during which time he authored more than 2,000 articles. He also held a number of positions in the Iranian government in the 1980s, and was the Iranian ambassador to German in the 1990‘s. He received a Masters degree from the University of Tehran in 1998 and a PhD from the University of Kent in the UK in international relations in 2002.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

The following statement was adopted by the Board of Lancaster Interchurch Peace Witness on April 20, 2013 (in preparation for the above event):

LIPW, with Friends Committee on National Legislation, is deeply concerned over continued hostilities against the Islamic Republic of Iran. In support of the April 17, 2013, statement by the Panel of Experts on Iran, chaired by Ambassador Thomas Pickering, we urge U.S. policymakers, in concert with other nations, to press for sustained, direct and comprehensive negotiations with Iran in order to end hostilities and build a viable peace in the region for the security of all.

The present course of U.S. action policy, beholden to Israel’s leadership and the American Israeli Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) is not in the interests of the U.S., Israel or the wider Middle East-Persian Gulf region.

We believe it is possible to build on the shared interests of the U. S. and Iran, rather than trying to isolate Iran or focusing exclusively on nuclear issues.